Doctor accused of failing to diagnose cervical cancer

A doctor has appeared before a fitness-to-practise inquiry accused of failing to diagnose cervical cancer in an 80-year-old woman who later succumbed to the disease.

The Medical Council inquiry yesterday heard evidence of the pain suffered by the Longford woman before she was diagnosed with cancer two years after her initial symptoms began.

It is claimed that Mukhtar El Siddig Awadalla, aged 53, who worked at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar, failed to arrange for an investigative surgery for Mary Hughes in March 2010.